Getting away from technology?

[Vahomesteaders]

This is something im sure many of us have thought about and some probably already do. But have you ever thought about dropping most of your high tech lifestyle? I was raised with no high tech devices growing up. I'm 34 years old. I didn't get Internet until I was 22. But we quickly got sucked in. Now we got smart phones and smart tvs, tablets and game consoles etc. I remember life without these things. My kids however do not. We have been really thinking of dropping it all. I have been reading so much lately on the effects of these things on the body. Cell phones, WiFi and even microwaves. Most doctors shrug it off. But think about it. This stuff had only been around in mass for about 15 to 20 years. They cant possibly know the affects on the body. You start throwing microwaves, electromagnetic waves and radiation at the body, it can't be good. They say it's small amounts. But small amounts add up over time. They say the brain is getting over stimulated and it is not healthy. And with so many children coming along now with mental and emotional dissorders and so many adults coming down with alzhiemers and dementia and so many cases of cancerous tumors in the body abs head, it makes you wonder. In just the last 5 years the average number of children diagnosed with such ailments has increased 65%. Think about it. Our bodies have existed for tens of thousands of years in basically the same manner. Now with the technology explosion of really the last 30 years has changed everything. It could be too much to fast. Our bodies are over stimulated and cant keep up. Leading to more stress than probably every before. Which is backed by the number of meds prescribed each year for such ailments.
It's not just the physical effects that's bad either. Think about it. How many times have you been surfing the Web on your phone and your kid asks a question that you don't even hear. Or your on the computer and your kids are in the game and your spouse on the tablet? We waist so many precious times with family because of the distraction of modern technology. So my wife and I have been thinking of going to the old flip phones and using the local library Internet instead of our home Internet. It's only 2 miles down the road so not that inconvenient. It's just a thought right now and will be tough at first, but just seems right. Anyone else felt this way?

[mrs whodunit]

We have many of the modern gadgets.

My kids love nothing better than our annual 2 week camping trip way out in the woods. We do take the Kindle ( kids love to have me read around the campfire at night), camera and GPS but other than that no electronics. Its the very best time to relax and unwind.

[unregistered358967]

I totally agree. We spend a week at the same cabin each year (no modern conveniences) and it's no accident the kids look forward to it each year. They each invite friends and the rule is no phones. It takes about a day for the buddies to adjust - lol.

We do spend most nights here at home with the TV off playing games or reading, the nights we are home. I'd love to get rid of the internet completely but I work from home plus with the kids in school we absolutely need it. We do have cable TV but just get the basic 4-5 local channels as rabbit ears didn't seem to work in our new location.

Still...once they're out on their own I do plan on making some changes. I was given a smartphone, I took it reluctantly but I rarely use it for what it should be used for. I'd be just as happy with my previous one which was just talk+text. I see everyone walking around nowadays punching away on a phone..in a waiting room on their phone..it makes me sad, almost like people are afraid to talk to one another. Don't get me wrong, I love technology and it's insanely useful but I also think it's destroying relationships and the way people communicate face to face.

Editing to add - when my son played sports I can't tell you the number of times I'd see a mom cheering on her kid - go back to facebook - cheer her kid - go back to facebook - cheer her kid - look at pinterest. It was almost like her child was interfering with her playtime. Granted, this is just my opinion but I enjoy being in the moment and paying attention to life around me, not blogging about it. This is the only activity I have online besides work, which I should get to right now.

[Snowfan]

We've kind of done away with some technology. Neither my wife or I have smart phones (never did) but she does have a tablet that she uses mostly for reading and games. I prefer to write letters by sitting down with fountain pen and paper. If someone I want to talk to is not too far away, we'll jump in the truck and go visit them. We call first. I don't think technology is bad. Some technology (medical applications, for example) is wonderful. It's our dependency on it.

[bja105]

For a while, we had 'Technology Free Tuesday.' No tv, internet, electronic games or devices. I am the one that pushed it, and the only one who enforced it. It didn't start until I got home from work, and lasted until bedtime. It was two or three hours a week, in reality. You'd think we were going Amish from the reactions of the kids.

[Micheal]

Being retired I've discovered that the "embracing of technology" is a personal choice. It's a modern day version of the old saying of Keeping up with the Jones without the Jones being anyone but your peers.
The need to remain up-to-date with the "latest" app, phone, gadget, appliance, etc. tends to show everyone that hey look I'm hip. (Opps, dated phrase ).....
One other thought is that there is a feeling that you are part of an insecure group that needs the approval of said peers therefore ..........

[Vahomesteaders]

My wife users her kindle all the time due reading and cooking. So that has to stay. According to her. I give the kids 30 minutes in the morning and the same in the evening for playing video games. We don't have cable. We use our phones plugged into the TV for TV and movies. We also use our phones for Internet. So they are glued to us daily. We have been reading a book together every evening called give me this mountain. It's a collection of stories and lessons. Very good book. We have also been turning everything off and playing cards in the evening by Candle light. It's been very nice.

[idigbeets]

I own a microwave... it gets used to heat up cold coffee sometimes...

I own an old old cell phone... that gets used maybe.. 1-4 minutes a day...

I own a computer... obviously

Thats about it.. so I guess I'm low tech?

[painterswife]

Balance.

Technology is a wonderful thing. Each generation has it's version of moving on up. Fire, the wheel, toilets, running water, tv, phones, computers. You choose how to balance things for your life but I don't ever want to go backwards or cut it out completely.

Wishing for the good old days is just a pipe dream and proof you have not achieved a balance that works for you. You don't have to embrace every bit new technology.

[SkizzlePig]

Of all potential radiation sources that we're exposed, the Sun is the most harmful. Most consumer electronics devices don't even come close to the nuke in the sky. So, I don't think that the concern should be one of a developing physical issue, but an emotional or relational issue.

Folks are more and more poured into their electronics as a poor substitute for real human interaction. I have the same assessment of Facebook. It's designed to bring people together, but really its emotionally polarizing.

That said, you can't cut them out entirely either. Your kids must learn the value of electronics as a servant, but stop short before that servant becomes their master.

Case in point: Our dear 2yo granddaughter is being raised by the television. Every photo shows her slack jawed bathed in the glow of the television. :rollingeyes:

I think Wlover nailed it: Balance.

[Vahomesteaders]

Originally Posted by Wlover

Balance.

Technology is a wonderful thing. Each generation has it's version of moving on up. Fire, the wheel, toilets, running water, tv, phones, computers. You choose how to balance things for your life but I don't ever want to go backwards or cut it out completely.

Wishing for the good old days is just a pipe dream and proof you have not achieved a balance that works for you. You don't have to embrace every bit new technology.

Your right there is a balance. Which is what we are trying to achieve. A phone is meant to call someone. Not dictate and calculate your life. A TV is meant for times of entertainment. Not 24 hour babysitting. Remember when it was one TV in the house? Now its every room in the house for most people. The good ol days is not a pipe dream. Many people live that way. Ever been to an amish community. More joy, contentment and good will there than anyplace I have ever seen. Saying its a pipe dream is an excuse not to try it and is a big reason our society is in shambles. That's what homesteading is. Simple life with contentment in the little things.

[maddy]

This is a great subject. I think the problem's not limited to time spent in front of the TV, or the cost of the latest smartphone "app." As each year passes, it's becoming increasingly difficult to function in a society that is built around technology. Many services now require billing directly to a credit card. Many transactions require that payments go through a bank. On-line commerce is causing local storefronts to close their doors. Filing or defending a lawsuit requires papers to be submitted electronically. Don't know how to do that? Tough. No justice for you.

The consequence of all this is that life is becoming increasingly complex--whether you've chosen to get on the merry-go-round or not. Each day's mail brings a barrage of notices that require some action to prevent a computer from doing something automatically with your personal information. A simple subscription to Netflix, or to a gardening magazine, oftentimes contains "small print" that requires you to remember to do something by a certain date to prevent your credit card from being automatically charged for a second year. No longer can you simply write a check at the grocery store. You either sign the magic screen allowing your bank account to be automatically debited (consenting to who knows what terms), or you return all the items in your cart to the shelves. If there's a problem with an electronic transaction, you'll end up on the phone going through 11 different menus and listening to 11 different advertisements before you're ever allowed to speak to a representative. And half the time you never get to one--you're referred to a website, told by the computer voice that it can't understand what you want, or told that "due to a high volume of calls" you'll have to call again later. Going to visit a doctor means getting photographed by the all-seeing eye at the reception desk (unless you cover the damned thing up with your hand, as I do) and then getting a tablet stuck in your face for another close-up photo in the exam room (unless you decline, which labels you as a kook).

Life is becoming complicated to the point where a good part of the day is spent just trying to defend against the constant overreaching of institutions and the encroachments of technology which allow them. Sometimes I think to myself, "When am I supposed to have time to work?" And I'm about as technology adverse a person as you could ever find. And still half the time I feel caught up in the dragnet.

People aren't meant to live with this degree of complexity, or the stress that inevitably accompanies it. Think about how life has changed in just the last 50 years. The human organism simply isn't capable of adapting that quickly. And the proof's in the pudding. Look at the incidence of mental health problems. A large percentage of the population is taking medication for depression, anxiety, and insomnia. Illegal drug use is rampant. An astounding percentage of school-age kids are on psychotropic medication and/or have been labeled with psychiatric disorders.

Has anybody thought about the possibility that it's not the people who are disordered, but rather the automated, stress-filled life that they're supposed to be keeping up with?

[painterswife]

Originally Posted by Vahomesteaders

Your right there is a balance. Which is what we are trying to achieve. A phone is meant to call someone. Not dictate and calculate your life. A TV is meant for times of entertainment. Not 24 hour babysitting. Remember when it was one TV in the house? Now its every room in the house for most people. The good ol days is not a pipe dream. Many people live that way. Ever been to an amish community. More joy, contentment and good will there than anyplace I have ever seen. Saying its a pipe dream is an excuse not to try it and is a big reason our society is in shambles. That's what homesteading is. Simple life with contentment in the little things.

You are an outsider in those communities. I grew up friends with several people in a Hudderite community. Not really happy people.

You make your own joy and contentment and technology or the lack of it do not dictate your level of happiness. If it does then someone is going about living life in the wrong way. Just excuses as far as I am concerned.

[Vahomesteaders]

Originally Posted by Wlover

You are an outsider in those communities. I grew up friends with several people in a Hudderite community. Not really happy people.

You make your own joy and contentment and technology or the lack of it do not dictate your level of happiness. If it does then someone is going about living life in the wrong way. Just excuses as far as I am concerned.

I live right down the road from an annababtist amish community. I go there some weeks daily. We get our milk, eggs (when our chickens slow down), meat, yogurt, cheese and veggies at times. We have become quite good friends with these families. They welcome us, come visit us and help us often. Heck last week they heard we were low on wood and they brought all the young boys to the farm and cut and stacked wood with us. They know we aren't going to be amish. They do it to be neighborly. And they laugh and have a great time. Not like hudderites that live under the rule of a governing head. And it's not just them. We have another historical community disc the road. Houses 200 years old. They don't allow any Internet sat TV or phones in the community. It's an awesome little village. It's not an excuse. It's a great way of life. I will always have a cell phone. Simply to reach family and friends. But if needs to be in moderation. Just look at ask the disconnected familied and kids. It's a direct result of the times and technology.

[bluefish]

We have a laptop. That's it. No microwave, no cell phone, no video games. My kids play outside a lot and read a lot. The oldest is getting to the age of needing to learn about all this stuff as it is so pervasive in society. Given that I am the type that opens my laptop and hope it works, I'm not sure how to go about teaching that, though.

[painterswife]

Originally Posted by Vahomesteaders

I live right down the road from an annababtist amish community. I go there some weeks daily. We get our milk, eggs (when our chickens slow down), meat, yogurt, cheese and veggies at times. We have become quite good friends with these families. They welcome us, come visit us and help us often. Heck last week they heard we were low on wood and they brought all the young boys to the farm and cut and stacked wood with us. They know we aren't going to be amish. They do it to be neighborly. And they laugh and have a great time. Not like hudderites that live under the rule of a governing head. And it's not just them. We have another historical community disc the road. Houses 200 years old. They don't allow any Internet sat TV or phones in the community. It's an awesome little village. It's not an excuse. It's a great way of life. I will always have a cell phone. Simply to reach family and friends. But if needs to be in moderation. Just look at ask the disconnected familied and kids. It's a direct result of the times and technology.

Technology is not the disconnect. It is the people using it. The majority of my family is thousands of miles away from me. Technology allows me to be much more involved and in contact with family that otherwise would drift away from me and my life. Technology is a tool and an excuse.

I know many parents, grandparents and offspring that now know far more and interact far more that when I was growing up all because technology is a tool they use to their advantage.

[mrs whodunit]

Should have said in my other post while I can tell we are not dependent on technology, we do enjoy it, but don't need it.

I like to see that my kids can entertain themselves and thoroughly enjoy that time.

[Jim-mi]

After my big accident I got a flip phone . . . . it could be a life saver.

Oh so many peoples are going to be in major trouble if and when the grid crashes.....
Their dependence on the tech stuff grinds to a screeching halt with the grid down.....

I will not be one of those lost souls........

[farminghandyman]

I think the trick is not letting control you, and that you control it.

technology, haw far do you want to drop out?
how about your car or truck?
your cooking devices? .
your heating appliances?
any thing that has steel in it is done by technology.

unless one wants to live like the Indians before white man came, that is about as technology free one can get,

even books is technology (paper, binding, thread, ink).

I like the computer and the internet, it is wonder information finding, I remember trying to find info on thing before the internet, by inter library loans, and such, searches that take mins to hours, that then took weeks and years, and many times never did find the source to really get what your after,
(not that I regent it but I have many thousand book library over the years built up of technical data and how to), but today, I can find things on nearly any subject in mins, and find the information that I want in a very short time,

cell phone, we (or wife) has one, mostly for emergency and travel.
most people with cell phones are very rude in there use,

as far as micro waves ovens and such, there nice, don't use it often but for a single reheat or to heat some small portion of some things, NICE.

but it is like any technology there is good and bad, that come with it, cars, for example nice for travel and comfort, bad for miantance and repairs, and fuel, they can maim, and kill you. (horse and buggy could maim and kill as well).

but we accept this as need in modern day life, and put up with the draw backs as we fell the positives are greater than the negatives,

I do think that many of the things to day really do not "improve our lives" they may entertain us, but improve,

does a 12 mega pixel camera change our lives in any great way over a 2 megapixel camera, or a phone that I can look up a recipe on and talk at the same time.

yes it is easy, and nice,

I think a lot of time the companies are creating things that they pitch to us a needs,
this latest technology show in Vegas, I heard there was kettle that internet connected so one would know by smart phone when the water was hot, WHY, many moons ago they came up with a whisel that whiseled when it was boiling.

some tings are just a tease, the new I phone, people camping texting on there old I phone waiting for the doors to open, so they can do the exact same thing on the new one,

in this country there is a constant drive for new, new new, more new, hay it is 6 months old it obsolete, need new, your house is 30 years old you better sell it and buy a new one, your school district building is 25 years old looks the same as when you were in school, but they need a new mega million dollar replacement so the old can set empty and in time be demolished,

Ok I will shut up,

[Truckinguy]

Just like everything else it's how you use it. I have a large family spread out far enough that it's not always convenient to get together and we all keep in touch by phone, text and Facebook. I like texting because it's not like a phone call that has to be answered. Our family knows that if they receive a text they can reply when it is convenient, even if it's hours later. If it's an emergency or extremely important, we'll call. I am going out for dinner tonight with a close friend and his girlfriend and tomorrow I'm going to my brother's house two hours away for lunch and I arranged both events by text yesterday, very convenient.

It's all personal responsibility and self control. Every technology is as convenient or intrusive as you make it. If something exists that can make your life easier it would be foolish not to use it responsibly. It's wise to be prepared to live without technology as in a SHTF situation but why not use it if it's available now?

There are a few sayings that would apply here; "Guns don't kill people, people kill people" and "A good mechanic doesn't blame his tools" would be a couple. We can't blame inanimate objects for our own issues.